Anyone know what the earliest people tend to hear back from PhD programs would be? I've applied to places like Harvard, Berkeley, and the rest of the top 10, along with places like Wisconsin, Maryland, Colorado, UCLA, etc. I assume the end of January would be if the schools really want me, what is the general rule of thumb here? It's very hard to tell from past acceptance threads, since the information there is so spread out.

From what I've seen, late January/early February is the earliest time people start getting acceptances. After that I think acceptances go out in waves to insure that the universities don't admit too many people. I think that lasts for maybe two months and then they send out rejections. Of course every school is different, but that seems to be what most universities tend to do.

The profile threads provide some information but as you said, there is no easy way to see them all for one school together. GradCafe's "Results Search" is a very handy tool and allows you to see trends from years past too.

gradapp2015 wrote:It looks like some chemistry PhD candidates have been receiving acceptances, according to The Grad Cafe. Any chance physics programs might start accepting people very early in January?

According to gradcafe, Ohio State has already sent out an acceptance. That's for astronomy, though. And from last year, it looks like people were hearing back with acceptances as early as mid-January for some places.

It's too early now, you'll have to be patient. The start of results season is probably the last week of Jan. East coast admissions typically peak by middle of Feb, and West coast admissions typically around 1st week of March as a general rule of thumb.

Calm your ***. You likely won't hear anything back from any of the universities in January. If you are a particularly strong candidate and you applied to a school with an extremely early deadline then you might hear something as early as Jan 15th but, for the most part, the earliest notifications will come in early to mid February.

gradapp2015 wrote:I'm just trying to make this year's "Acceptances 2015" thread, so you guys should calm down. It's a huge resource to have this all compiled in one place as a historical record for future years.

There is a precedent for starting the thread around very early January (see the 2012 thread as an exaple of this). Before I discovered that, I was curious and thus jumped the gun by a week, but I don't think that is unreasonable.

RonaldoMcDonaldo wrote:Calm your ***. You likely won't hear anything back from any of the universities in January. If you are a particularly strong candidate and you applied to a school with an extremely early deadline then you might hear something as early as Jan 15th but, for the most part, the earliest notifications will come in early to mid February.

This is simply not true. I know someone who has heard back from Kansas State University, and their deadline was the normal Dec 15.

RonaldoMcDonaldo wrote:Calm your ***. You likely won't hear anything back from any of the universities in January. If you are a particularly strong candidate and you applied to a school with an extremely early deadline then you might hear something as early as Jan 15th but, for the most part, the earliest notifications will come in early to mid February.

This is simply not true. I know someone who has heard back from Kansas State University, and their deadline was the normal Dec 15.

Did you miss the part about an early deadline? Also, Dec 15 is not a particularly common deadline. If gradschoolshopper is to be believed, a little under 10 programs have a Dec 15th deadline or earlier.

Besides, I agreed that there might be some instances of early acceptances (i.e. in January) but that it wouldn't be the norm. One person getting into Kansas in January doesn't disprove with what I said.

Two of the three schools I applied to had deadlines on or before December 15th. I know three isn't a large sample size, but I was under the impression that early December deadlines aren't too uncommon.

djh101 wrote:Does anyone know anything about Colorado State? They claim that their departmental pre-applications act on a rolling application basis.

On their webpage they say:

The application deadline for full consideration for Fall 2014 admissions is Feb. 1, 2014. Applications received after the deadline will be considered as they come in until all positions are filled.

And if you look at thegradcafe.com, acceptances are all over the place. Some as early as January 15th and some as late March 5th.

What I suspect is that they have a deadline in the traditional sense set as Feb 1st but that they call it "rolling" application because they will gladly consider students who apply late but are exceptional.

We offer admissions on a “rolling” basis. What this means is that at any given meeting of the graduate admissions committee, we consider all complete applications that are on file and decide to accept, decline, or defer the application.

I'm hoping the February deadline is with respect to the preapplication because they tell you not to submit the general application until they give you their preapplication decision. I'll probably email them next week.

We offer admissions on a “rolling” basis. What this means is that at any given meeting of the graduate admissions committee, we consider all complete applications that are on file and decide to accept, decline, or defer the application.

I'm hoping the February deadline is with respect to the preapplication because they tell you not to submit the general application until they give you their preapplication decision. I'll probably email them next week.

I'm fairly certain that what they call the "pre-application" is really just the same thing as the "application" as every other school calls it. You provide them all your grades, letters of recommendation, etc in the pre-application. They say in their "How do I Apply" section that if you are recommended for admission then you submit the "Official Graduate School Application". So basically, fill out the "pre-application" and provide all the materials prior to February 1st. If you get in then they'll let you know and have you fill out another set of forms which they call the "Official" application.

According to GradCafe records, last year's first big set of acceptances for physics was 1/16-1/17, and if the same pattern is followed this year, those days correspond to the 15th and 16th of this week (ie, the Thursday/ Friday of the second full week of January). Chicago and Michigan were pretty early last year.

I would say that it gives the University almost no benefit to notifying obvious rejections early. I think this is because 1) rejections take time and effort to send so it makes more sense to just do them all at once and 2) they might get responses from the rejected candidates asking for reasons etc. and at this stage of the application process, their time and effort is better spent on coordinating interviews and/or visits for those accepted. I think the most common time for the rejections is shortly after the visit/interview dates are planned, then they can reject everyone that is not likely to make it on a waitlist at least. But some schools do not reject anyone until they actually fill the class, just in case. And yet still more schools never give you a decision at all, or not until well after April 15.

PathIntegrals92 wrote:UIUC's deadline was January 15th and they already sent out a couple of offers. They are pretty fast!

Stony Brook had the same deadline, but they sent out offers starting the 16th! I thought that was unfair, since clearly people who applied earlier were given preference, but no such warning was given. My recs weren't even in by that time...

penn state and hawaii have started giving out their admissions ! waiting for both !! waiting is hell ! and seems like many have applied to penn state this year ! being an international, that scares me !

Seems like schools are relatively slow to get decisions out this year... Michigan, UCSB, UCSD, Wisconsin all have. But I would have expected people to hear from places like Rochester, Maryland, Chicago, etc. earlier than now, given the past trends on The Grad Cafe site.

slowdweller wrote:Stony Brook had the same deadline, but they sent out offers starting the 16th! I thought that was unfair, since clearly people who applied earlier were given preference, but no such warning was given. My recs weren't even in by that time...

not true, I applied 2 days before the deadline - not early at all, and got an offer one week later

Has anybody gotten funding offers? I got a phone call from UChicago's astro dept this monday saying they'd send extra info via email later on. Montana State physics dept just sent me an email to check the website, was accepted with no info on funding.

YodaT wrote:Has anybody gotten funding offers? I got a phone call from UChicago's astro dept this monday saying they'd send extra info via email later on. Montana State physics dept just sent me an email to check the website, was accepted with no info on funding.

New Mexico and Colorado State both included the stipend given for TAing and the number of months it covered in their emails.